Pierce County Sewer Connection Fund
Pierce County Public Works and Utilities Sewer Division provides awards
in the form of matching project funding for the following project types:

Connecting properties to the sewer system to alleviate
and/or correct health and safety issues derived from areas
of failing septic systems

Promoting economic development and creation of new
permanent jobs

Address any affected water body in the County’s sewer
service area listed in the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list
as impaired

Application information and information on funding awards will be available after January 1, 2017.

Please Note:All funding for the Pierce County Sewer Connection Fund is currently allocated through December of 2016.

The anticipated date for accepting new applications is
January 1, 2017

Where Do the Funds Come From?

The Public Works and Utilities Sewer Service Area (click here to view a map) is a 117-square-mile basin serving the urbanized incorporated and unincorporated areas of Pierce County. Currently the Pierce County Sewer Division provides collection of wastewater to 35% of this service area.

The Pierce County Council established a Failed Septic System Connection Fund in 2007 using 14% of the rate increase proposed by the Utility that year. The fund was created to increase sewer connections within the service area basin and specifically to assist in connecting individual single family residential properties for connection to the Pierce County Sewer System with septic systems that had failed.
Through Pierce County Council Ordinance 2010-56, the County Council directed the Utility to broaden the scope of the original Fund to include project funding for the following project types:

Connecting properties to the sewer system to alleviate and/or correct health and safety issues derived from areas of failing septic systems;

Promoting economic development and creation of new permanent jobs;

Addressing any affected water body in the County’s sewer service area listed in the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list as impaired.

To meet these directives, the Sewer Division started the Sewer Connection Fund. The Fund collects a minimum of $250,000 annually used for a variety of public and private projects. Fund recipients are chosen using a value rating system acknowledging everything from acres served, to jobs created, to health and safety improvements.